On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Deepica Mutyala: ON Entrepreneurship and How To Quit Your Job To Pursue Your Dreams

Episode Date: August 12, 2019

On this episode of On Purpose, I sat down with South-Asian beauty entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of Live Tinted—Deepica Mutyala. Deepica shares what it takes to start a multicultural community about beauty and culture. We cover everything from harnessing work ethic during your off-hours to dealing with perfectionist tendencies. She also shares what it’s like to grow up with immigrant parents, and how that shaped her career from a young age. Tune in to this conversation to learn more about Deepica and her uniquely profound perspectiveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, it's Debbie Brown, host of the Deeply Well Podcast, where we hold conscious conversations with leaders and radical healers and wellness around topics that are meant to expand and support you on your wellbeing journey. Deeply well is your soft place to land, to work on yourself without judgment, to heal, to learn, to grow, to become who you deserve to be. Deeply well with Debbie Brown is available now on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Namaste. The one you feed explores how to build a fulfilling life admits the challenges we face. We share manageable steps to living with more joy and less fear through guidance on emotional resilience, transformational habits, and personal growth.

I'm your host, Eric Zimmer, and I speak with experts ranging from psychologists to spiritual teachers, offering powerful lessons to apply daily. Create the life you want now. Listen to the one you feed on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do a flirtatious gambling double agent in World War II? An opera singer who burned down an honorary to kidnap her lover. And a pirate queen who walked free with all of her spoils, haven't comment.

They're all real women who were left out of your history books. You can hear these stories and more on the Womanica podcast. Check it out on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. My vision of the American dream was really doing something that paid the path for others because in America, you have the opportunity to do whatever it is you want to do. And that was like so stuck in my brain. So when you say like, did I ever think I was going to be doing this,

I feel like I'm one of the very few people I knew that would say like, yes. Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of On Purpose. Thank you for committing to growing yourself, to personal development, and to making a positive change in your life. You know that on this podcast, I'm dedicated to bringing you incredible guests with amazing stories that hopefully you can relate to,

connect to, and start seeing how you can find your passion and your purpose, and start creating a meaningful and fulfilling life. And today's guest is not going to disappoint. First of all, she's an incredibly dear dear friend, so I can't wait for you to get to know her story. And for me to go deeper with her, that's one of the reasons why I love these podcasts. She's one of my wife's best friends, so you're going to get to find out a bit more about that as well. But on top of all of that, she's had a truly remarkable journey and she's now the CEO and founder of Live Tinted, a new, incredible beauty brand that's changing the way we think

about beauty. I can't wait for you to hear about how she describes that and how she articulates that because she's amazing with words and her her name is Deepika Matiala. Deepika, thank you so much for being here. I'm so happy right now. Thank you. Well, I'm happy right now because we have never sat together in an official formal situation, not that this is official or formal at all.

But every time I'm here, which was yesterday today, and again, probably tomorrow, you're always working, and I'm always hanging out with your wife. Yes, exactly. So Deepika literally lives here, which we love. Which we love. I'm going to. And that's the interesting thing that I've not always been sure about my wife's choice in friends. But Deepika is the best. And I absolutely love you. Like you're amazing. You mean so much to both of us. And I'm so happy you live in LA. Like remember when we were like just messaging about it and now you're here and now I feel like

you guys are just like my family. Yeah. It's so great. Absolutely. We definitely are family and we both see it that way as well. And I think you've made LA even more natural for Radeon and I and I think that that's that's really special because I think finding family is hard. It's for sure to get think finding families hard, especially as we get older. This age, right? It's tough. But you can always, there's an energy thing that I feel with people at this age that I

don't feel like I had before that I just, I felt with you guys. Yeah. Same, same. But I want, I just want to take a moment to say congratulations. Thank you. Well, incredible stuff that's happening around Lift Into. Thank you. I can't wait to dive into the story behind it.

Why the brand exists, what it stands for and what it's happening around Lift Into. Thank you. I can't wait to dive into the story behind it, why the brand exists, what it stands for, and what it's changing in the world. You had this incredible announcement in New York, in the New York Times. It was on banners all over the city. I mean, it looked so exciting. Let's just start there with how exciting that day was, that week was, where all of this kind of became real.

You know what it is, is like like you works towards something for so long. And you have this like vision and hope that everyone's going to like just take it in the way that you want them to, but you don't actually know. And that feeling of the New York Times, the Billboard and Times Square with the words lived hinted written there. I mean, I felt like I gave birth to a baby and it was the healthiest baby and it was just like everyone was talking about how cute the baby was and it was just like, honestly Jay, like it made everything so worth it and that entire process to get there was such a roller coaster that I, it's just, I just feel so grateful, honestly. Amazing. And that's what I want to unpack with you today,

because I think we live in a world, social media world where people are seeing all of these amazing things. I was observing it that day and I loved it because I'm your friend and I see what you're doing and there was so much incredible, there was such an incredible energy around it. I felt there was so much positivity,

but people see that and then we forget what happened before it. And so I want to kind of go there because you're from a South Asian background. Yes. Just like me. Yes. And the reason I want to start there is just, did you ever think that that little South Asian

girl was going to build this incredible big beauty brand? And I grew up in Texas and the, everything around me was blonde hair blue eyes, right? And there was a very specific standard of beauty I saw on the media and my parents who were immigrants, right? Of course, from India, they had a very specific vision of what the American dream was. And for them, it was all about respect in America. And that came from education, education on education, on education, a degree, after degree, after degree. And for me, my vision of the American dream

was really doing something that paved the path for others because in America, you have the opportunity to do whatever it is you want to do. And that was like so stuck in my brain. So when you say, like, did I ever think I was going to be doing this, I feel like I'm one of the very few people I knew that would say like yes, because like when I was 16 years old,

I told my dad I wanted to create my own beauty brand. But the path from that to where I am now was completely different from what I could have ever imagined. But yeah, like he was so badly wanted me to be a doctor. Cause again, that that equivlated to respect in America. And you know, our whole family is in medical professionals in some way, stereotypical Indian in that way. But I just wanted something different.

And so when I was 16, I told him that I was going to do it. But being a makeup artist, in my dad's mind, just, it wasn't a thing, right? So it's like, how can you be a makeup artist and have respect in this country? So when I went to college, I kind of just had this mindset of, I'm gonna do the corporate side of the beauty industry, learn everything I can, and then go to HBS, Harvard Business School

to make my dad happy, check, check, check, and then start my own beauty brand. It did not go that way, but obviously like life. But I will say that like, I do feel very fortunate that at a very early age, I saw beauty as a vehicle for me to express myself in a community like Texas where nobody looked like me.

So I was able to, in some ways, change who I was to fit into people around me. Like I got the blue, I wanted your eyes. You're the one South Asian, well you and your wife are like the two, the Jean pool of like the gods who have like these unreal eyes. but the rest of us got colored contacts to look like everyone around us. I got the blonde streaks. I wanted to look like what I saw in the media and everyone I went to school with.

And for beauty was like my way of just like self-expression. And so I was obsessed with it. Like I would stay in on Friday nights and do my cousins makeup. And it's so surreal because I like talk to them now and they're like, it's so crazy that you obsessed with it. Like I would stay in on Friday nights and do my cousins makeup. And it's so surreal because I like talk to them now and they're like, it's so crazy that you're doing it. It's crazy how it all happens, man. That's amazing. I love that.

I love that. What was, tell me about something you learned from that experience that has helped now. Like what was it in that traditional form of success or respect, like you said, that your parents saw as the American dream, what about that definition has helped you and has been useful, totally. Even though you've taken your own path and paved your own way. I think when you see the hard work that immigrant parents have, that when they come to this

country, they feel like they have this sort of, there's this bar they have to hit, right? Like it's like if we're going to have any type of prestige and just be taken seriously, we have to work 10 times harder than everybody else. And quite frankly, I still feel that way. And I know we've had conversations about this that the reality is that being South Asian or a woman of color in general,

you were still fighting the fight. And I think the thing that I always think about and I tell myself is like, my dad's work ethic is of one I've never seen in my entire life. I mean, he talks about how he was literally like picking weeds in like India and like a village. To see that and what we have today,

my family, like just, it blows my mind and it gives me this feeling of, like, if they did all of that for us, I have to do that 10x harder. It gives me this fuel and drive. I'm Jay Shetty, and on my podcast, on purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible

hearts and minds on the planet. Oprah. Everything that has happened to you can also be a strength builder for you if you allow it. Kobe Bryant, the results don't really matter, it's the figuring out that matters. Kevin Haw, it's not about us as a generation at this point, it's about us trying our best to create change. Lumin's Hamilton, that's for me been taking that moment for yourself each day, being kind to yourself because I think for a long time I wasn't kind to myself and many many more. If you're attached to knowing you don't have a capacity to learn.

On this podcast you get to hear the raw real-life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in hours. Listen to on purpose with Jay Shetty on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. Time management and productivity expert, Laura Vandercam, teaches you how to make the most of your time, both at work and at home. These are the practical suggestions you need

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on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's such a beautiful point. I love that because I think so many of us can look back and be like, oh, I wasn't encouraged to do what I love or it wasn't about my passion, but actually looking at from the point of view of their work ethic and they did what they didn't love

or they were passionate about. Exactly. It's so much harder work. Like I said with my mom, it was my mom's birthday yesterday. I know I saw. And you know, when I talked to my mom about it, I'm just like, she has put in so much work,

like sacrifice so much. She did stuff she didn't love. She wasn't excited about. She wasn't enthusiastic about it. It was more like it was meaningful of purpose for. To provide for her family. Totally. And you know what's so sad about that,

at least for me, I was so embarrassed of my parents growing up. And that makes me sick to my stomach. Now I'm embarrassed of that now because my mom, she would walk out wearing like nighties and like, movies and come, like, hang out with my friends or house with smell like chicken curry. And I was mortified to have people over because of that. I was like, mom, like, I want you to hide behind the scenes and like all this stuff. They're my number one fans, my best friends.

And I now respect everything they've done for us. And I think that's a part of my goal with launching this brand too, is I really hope kids growing up today realize how incredible parents are. Everything they give up for us is just so insane and surreal. Like when I think about specifically immigrant parents, I feel like there's just so much that they sacrifice just for the well-being of their families. Yeah, 100% that's so true. And it's, I think you've done a good job though,

because if anyone follows Deepika on YouTube or Instagram, you'll see that she makes lots of videos with her parents in them. And they are the best videos. Like they're so fun to watch. My mom. The third training, yeah, your mom is just adorable. And if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend going and follow Deepa on YouTube and Instagram and go check out those videos. Because-

My lapun do. Yeah, so I think you've done a good job. I think my mom would love to be my one of my videos and I haven't got there yet. Because she has. Well, I want to have her on the podcast. Like, that's what I'm going to do. Oh my God, that's going to be epic.

It'll be embarrassing, though, because my mom is literally my biggest fan, too. So she, even if I try and push it to say stuff about me, I don't know if she's going to go there. So. Oh my God, that has happened like ASAP. Yeah, yeah, we need to do 100 London. But let's talk about how it all started from at least an external perspective. Yeah. And I'd love for you to tell me when you started with it, but it started when you're still doing a YouTube videos. Yeah. And your second video went viral. Dead. That's insane.

I don't know many people can say that. And we live in this social media space and no people in it. I don't know how many people can say their second video went viral. It was like an out of body experience. So I was working on the corporate side of the beauty industry.

So I was in the beauty game, just like I had planned, learning about the beauty industry. And I just picked up my iPhone one day and I was like, you know what? I have this beauty tip. And I just picked up my iPhone one day, and I was like, you know what, I have this beauty tip, and the core of it, Jay, was like, I have so many of my girlfriends texting me

asked me for beauty advice. And I was like, just go to this YouTube channel and leave me alone. Please, just do it. And so that's literally the motive of it. It wasn't overthought. I wasn't thinking too much into it. Pick up my iPhone,

and I just shared a beauty tip that I use to solve a beauty concern in my life. And that was a red lipstick under my eyes to mask dark circles. And because that is my number one beauty problem right now and I think a lot of people can relate with that is the dark circles and stuff. I was such an insecurity in my life.

And so anyway, I could find ways to simplify beauty. I took my lipstick and I put it there and it got picked up by BuzzFeed and it just went viral. That's crazy. I mean, I had the Cosmo UK daily mail, refinery 29, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And before I knew it, it was at 4 million views. That's insane.

Oh my God, when it hit 4 million views, I got an email from the Today Show. And I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna be the Indian Hota. I'm quitting my job today. I'm gonna go be someone on the Today Show, because that's how it works. That's not how it works. But I did quit my job that day.

I had this gut feeling in me that this was a moment in my life that I had an opportunity that it was like a 15 minutes, right? And it was like, you can take that 15 minutes and have it just be a moment in your life or you can take it and build out your dream career. I love that. That's what I did.

That's amazing. That's such great advice too, because I feel like it's been really interesting for me whenever I've had moments, they have always given me momentum and that's what I believe moment-sized, they give you momentum. And there've been so many people I've had moments, they have always given me momentum. And that's what I believe moment, moment size, they give you momentum. And there've been so many people who've been like, Jay, you realize that's like, you're going to, you peak now, like that's it. And I'm sure, I don't know what you heard, but it's so easy for people to be like,

yeah, that's 15 minutes of fame, right? Every day, every day. And the difference is, is that you took that and you turned it into something amazing. And it's just continued to grow. You know what it is? I remembered to asking myself the same question, right out of college, I had a job, and I left it to go to New York City, and the question I asked myself was, what's the worst thing that could happen?

And to me, the worst thing was not taking the risk and always wondering what if. Yes. Always. And I knew that if I didn't just take this leap, like, you know, people, for me, I always knew I had another option. I could go to business school. I could go get another job at a beauty brand. But when in life do you have, at that point,

10 million people watching a video about you as a beauty kind of like expert or authority in the space? And so I was like, you know what? I have to go for this. And I actually didn't tell my parents. I just quit my job because I know their mindset. You were in Texas at this time. Oh my God, I was in New York.

I was in New York. But I just in my brain, you know, they would be worried to their core. And my God, I have to share this because it was so funny. I remember going home that weekend because I was in my brain, you know, the Moji with like, it just like bursting out,

that's how I felt. I was like, what now? How am I paying my next paycheck? Like what's gonna happen? I had no idea. So I was like, I'm just gonna go home for a weekend, hang out with my family, not tell them anything, but just rest my mind and kind of gather my thoughts.

Of course, through the Indian grapevine, my dad found out that I had quit my job. It was like my cousin told his brother, or his dad who's my dad's brother. And oh my gosh, I was sitting on the couch. We were probably watching some like, Hindi movie or something. And my dad was like, come into the study.

I literally thought he was gonna like, take me to India, get me an arranged marriage. My life was over. I had all these like visions, and I walk in there and my dad, he hands me a check. And this is when I start to cry. I'm like tearing up and he's like, And I walk in there and my dad, he hands me a check. And this is when I start to cry. I'm like tearing up and he's like,

don't think of this as me giving my daughter money. Think of this as me investing in a business I believe in. Wow. I'm about to, wow, that is amazing. That's like a, that is beautiful. That's so nice. Yeah, and you know what it is? It's like me from a pride perspective, I tore up the check and I handed it to him

and I was like, you saying what you just said to me and that sort of like, you know, just him like, he was terrified, I know my father, he was terrified that I had quit my job, but he knew how much that mattered to me and that was all the fuel I needed to keep going. 100%. I love that. I can't wait to see that in a movie.

That's like such a movie moment. Is it a Bollywood movie? Could be. I don't know if you want to do a Bollywood movie. But it's just such a... As in Jenny, I'm not taking away any of the energy from that moment. I just mean that is incredible.

That's such a... So I want to hear... And I know we have conversations like this all the time. And so anyone who's listening and watching right now, me and Deepak are gonna talk about philosophy and thought and wisdom all the time. So I know that you're very reflective and introspective in the way you kind of go about life

and everything's very intentional and focused. Take it back for someone. Let's say there's someone who's listening or watching right now and they haven't had that 10 million moment yet Right, they've not had that moment. Yeah Talk to me about What would be some of your thoughts for them as to how they work towards getting to the point not the 10 million moment

Because I don't think that's the important thing here I think the important thing is you saw that as a moment to quit your job and go all in or you saw that as a Launchpad or a stepping stone to get closer to what you wanted to do. Talk me through how that person should be thinking about when that's right for them, because I think timing is just so hard to understand, but also important. It is, and I don't want anyone listening to this to think that the viral moment is what you wait for. Right, that's, yeah.

It's not predictable, and it's not something that you, and that's why it happened for me, right? I wasn't predicting it, I wasn't strategizing it. I was just sharing a valuable tip that I felt like would help other people's lives. And so for me, when I think about how other people can go for that dream moment in their life, there's actually like real advice I can give around like I didn't

just take the leap and go right. I made that initiative to start that YouTube channel. I picked up my iPhones, so I didn't make the excuse about like I don't have the fancy equipment. I didn't make the excuse but I don't have time because I did it on a weekend. And I didn't make the excuse that like I don't know anything about YouTube or whatever. It's called Google I figured it out. When you take those layers back of all the excuses, because that, to me, is the biggest reason that so many people, including myself at points in life, didn't just start something.

And for me, the biggest thing is you just have to start. With my YouTube channel, I didn't know anything, but I just started. And it didn't matter, and it worked. And it was because I didn't overthink it. And I didn't just quit my job. I had a momentum that made me quit my job. And that momentum came from me just taking that moment

and making the time and not making it. The therapy for Black Girls podcast is the destination for all things mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. Here, we have the conversations that help black women dig a little deeper into the most impactful relationships in our lives, those with our parents, our partners, our children,

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like what advice do you have for somebody that's trying to go for their goals and dreams, it's like, just cut out the excuses. If you want this bad enough, you need to figure out a way to make it happen and you will find a way to make it happen. And you've got to get the noise out of your head, right? Because I don't know, I don't know.

I would love to hear what you do because in my brain, there's so many noises. I'm like, okay, what if this, what about this, what about this, what about this? And you just got to cut all that noise and just be in the moment and be like, but what if you didn't do it? Then what? Then what would happen? And so I always say, always find a way to do that step one without taking that huge risk. Because you're already taking a risk by doing even that step one, right? And that's the hardest thing to do that step one. But once you do it, and that for me is it, is like, I felt like I tested it while I still had a job. Because that's the scary

thing. It's like, how do I quit my job and just go for my dream? That's like an easy thing to say out loud. Like, oh, when you hear it now, right? But in the moment, it's like, I just, I didn't just quit. I had this momentum happening. I had built a roll-it-dex of network in a context for the past 10 years in the beauty industry. And then I made that happen. It was all one step led to another, that led to another. It's not, it's never overnight. Whoever thinks it's overnight

because of social media and all of that BS, it's a lot of hard work. And you and I talked about that a lot. It's like, it may seem like it because of a viral video, but before that viral video was 10 years of hard work in the beauty industry that made me confident enough to quit my job and go do this full time. Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that up because I think that the amazing thing about your stories, you are already aligned and committed to beauty. So it's like, you were gathering these skills,

which is why now when you're a CEO, it's like you were gathering skills from inside the industry. So you were learning about it all the time. It wasn't just, oh, I made a video and now I understand beauty. It was on how it worked. Exactly. And it's like I understand beauty from a business perspective. Now, at a moment that's helping me gather more contacts, more networks, et cetera.

But I've actually built that already. And I think that's awesome advice. And the second thing you said there is you were using your time on evenings, weekends, whatever it was to do all the other stuff. And the funny thing is, that's so parallel to where I was at, too. Like it was the same thing. Like I was working my day job, and I knew I wanted to help people more, and so I started

making videos. And that was it. Like I didn't know how to, I stood on how to turn a camera on. Right? Like literally, I'm not, I'm not kidding, Adan, can testify for this. I have no idea because I've always wanted to be someone who can focus on my strengths and play to those

and have people around me who can play to theirs. But I love that point that you're making, just it's not overnight. It's not that, and 10 years in the beauty industry is why that moment, this is the beauty of it actually. So I'm having this and I'm saying this for Deepak Gwishi, so I'm what you want to say. But it's like your 10 years in the industry

is what means you can actually capitalize on that moment. Yeah, I would. You're totally right. Like if you don't have that 10 years, even if you have that breakthrough at that moment, it can disappear or you won't know what to do with it. Totally. Because that work hasn't been there.

You're so right. Actually, I've never actually thought of it that way, but that's exactly it because when I quit, I was my own assistant, my own lawyer. I was my own lawyer, which is kind of dangerous, but I was like my own manager agent. I remember I just literally emailed 250 people in my email database and I I was like, my faker assistant, I had an assistant at the Baka email. I like, it was a full fake it till you make a game, right? And I was like, she's now a beauty influencer

and she's doing this and she'd love to work with you. And for every 250 emails I got maybe three replies. But those three replies led to one job. And that one job they asked me my rate, I threw out a number. And they were like, okay, and I was like, oh, I could have like three X that. And then you just learn from that and you go to the next thing. And then you go to the next thing. But I just learned and I taught myself that. But it doesn't, I truly believe that because of being at these other beauty brands, I was able to leave and feel

really confident about getting jobs as a beauty influencer. It wasn't guaranteed. And it took a lot of hard work. And a lot of, to be honest, like, I'm so extrovert, do you consider yourself extrovert? I do have role, yes. I do have role. I'm a big fan of't guaranteed. And it took a lot of hard work. And a lot of, to be honest, like, I'm so extrovert, do you consider yourself extrovert? I do, I do, I rule, yes.

So overall, I do too. And for someone so extrovert to just be going from a place where I was working in an office with all my best friends, I had a roommate who I also, like, I had a roommate. I didn't live alone and I was dating somebody. And at the all at the same time, I was single living by myself and working for myself. And so I was just by myself all the time.

I mean, for somebody that's that extrovert to go into that, it leads to a really, really quite frankly dark place in your own mind. It really did. I remember there was day that didn't want to get out of bed, but then the days I did go out of bed, I was like going really hard. But you have these roller coaster of emotions, and I never, to be honest, then I never showed that stuff on social media.

I was too scared. I was too nervous that you had to be a certain type of way. I had to look a certain type of way, to have a certain type of confidence and fake it till I make it kind of thing. And such a core part of what I wanna do now with Live Tinted is take those barriers away and show the raw, real story of, it is not easy to build a beauty brand. Nobody just comes to you and hands you

something, you have to work for it. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I think anyone who's listening and watching right now is going to just listen to your story and I'm hoping that as you're listening and watching, you're recognizing just how much hard work goes into it. And I want you to, I was actually having a really interesting conversation when I was working out this morning. And it was me, my personal trainer, and another trainer. And she was talking about how she'd been doing something for 15 years, the art that she wants to work on.

And then we were unpacking that. And by the way, these two people, these two trainers are far fitter than I am. They're always giving me like health tips physically, and then I'm talking about the mind and consciousness and all the rest of it. And she actually said to me, she goes, actually now that I'm reflecting with you, Jay, she goes, I've only been all in for 12 months.

So even though in her head, she felt like she'd been doing it for 15 years. Yeah. When she actually reflected, she was actually, I've only really gone all in for 12 months. And I would really recommend that you measure whatever you're receiving based on when you went all in, not how long you've been studying a subject, not how long you've been thinking about it.

That's actually a really great point because even when I was working on the beauty, corporate side of the beauty industry, it wasn't until I started working on product development for that company. I was doing product development that made me feel like, wait, like maybe I don't have to go to business school, maybe I can start this beauty brand and maybe this company is my business school and maybe I don't have to go that specific set path

that I thought like I had steps pieced out for me. And it was those, I would say, I would say, yeah, like 12 a year, that last year of working the beauty industry that made me feel a little more confident that like, maybe my path is going to be a little bit different. And so again, when that video went viral and I did it, it was like, to me, I never thought, quote, unquote, being a beauty influencer would ever be a part of my drop description. Like, are you, I'm a business woman. I had that ego. I thought about my parents. What are they going to tell their friends? Like, oh, my daughter's a YouTuber. What does

that even mean? I, every moment of the experience of being a beauty influencer had to happen for me to be able to build this, what lived in to stands for today. I love that. It's all steps, you know, just like one by one by one. Yeah. And we have to see it that way. In the sense that I, and I'm sure you can, I'm listening to one by one. Yeah. And we have to see it that way in the sense that I, and I'm sure you can, I'm listening to your story right now and I can see so many parallels with mine. I know I always feel that way whenever I talk to you. Yeah, and I'm literally going right now.

I'm like, there were times when it looked like everything was falling apart. Yeah. But I had to go through that. Yeah. And I had to go through every one of those. And I wouldn't be anywhere close to who I am as a person, all where things are for us without all those moments. through every one of those and I wouldn't be anywhere close to who I am as a person,

all where things are for us without all those moments. And I think this year, you're so scrappy in the sense of like, I was just talking to your team out there and they were saying how if everyone was gone and it was just you still doing this, you would be just as successful because you know, you've done it before by yourself. So you would make it happen anyways. And I think about that. I'm like, yes, now I have people on my team, and they help me grow quicker and stronger,

and I feel mentally better, and I now take care of myself because I have that support system. But I also know how to film a YouTube video. I know how to upload that video, and I know how to be a business woman. And I think those skills of being able to have to do it ourselves,

helped shape us into like, work as hard as we do now. Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. I didn't even have a team until like three months ago. Like, it's been so recent. Yeah. And people are still surprised that I do all my Instagram comments

and I reply to you. I absolutely don't get that, by the way. And I'm like, all my Facebook comments, like it's me. And I believe that, I believe that if you want to grow something, you can't outsource it. Yeah. You just can't. If you you want to grow something, you can't outsource it. If you truly want to grow something, you can't just give it away to someone.

You have to be involved to some degree. Of course, you can have a plan and you can have a team and you can have agencies. But I know that a lot of people have this belief that when I find the manager or the agent, my life will be solved. And I felt that for a long time. I used to look at people being successful. I used to think, oh, they must have an amazing manager.

They must have an amazing agent. Totally. And all I can honestly say, and I think deep because I like this too, which is what's inspiring me to say, is just that you are your best cheerleader. You are your best support. You are your best everything. Don't rely or hope to find someone who's going to save and change your life. And that will never change. No matter how successful you are your best everything, don't rely or hope to find someone who's gonna save

and change your life. And that will never change, no matter how successful you are right now, I'm going through the fundraising process and you have this mental and our mutual friend, Paia Kadakia, she obviously went through it too and she told me like, this doesn't change your life when you get fundraising and you get investors involved. That does not make your life easier.

It quite frankly complicates it all. And I think that's important for people to hear because there's this glorified idea of you see especially right now, women in tech fundraising, and it's like, wow, she raised all this money. It is a beautiful thing that finally women are getting to do that.

However, what I've now learned through going through this process is it adds more voices, more responsibilities, and it doesn't mean that you have less to worry about. It has more people you have to answer to. So I think something I'm learning is now my job has just shifted from growing the team rather than like me focusing on doing the work.

But I think we both probably have problems with this is like letting go and letting other people do it. But I think you're so right, there's some things that I will never let go of. Yeah. Ever. And that's important. Of course it is. It's you that's building this.

And I think anyone who lets go of that is letting go of, I think the strongest strength that a business has. Absolutely. So now tell us about this. You have this incredible life as a vlogger, a great beauty influencer. Yeah.

But for you, you always wanted to do more. And I don't mean more in terms of better because people are happy doing what makes them happy. But for you, it was always about business. You were always a business woman who became an influencer, but really had set your sights on being the CEO of this incredible brand. So tell me about that transition of moving away

from this amazing thing you've built that's already working and it's already going great. But then you're saying, no, I actually want to create something that's going to shift the culture because that's what I think you're doing with lived-intored. Thank you. Like, you're really trying to shift culture and breakdown barriers and change the way things it perceived. So, tell me about that transition. I still remember being 16 and going down like a drugstore aisle and seeing no beauty products

that worked for me and no women that look like me. And I think that it's crazy. You know, you have these flashback memories of your childhood. That's one that I will never forget. And I think it still's crazy. You know, you have these flashback memories of your childhood. That's one that I will never forget. And I think it still lives on with me today. So when I quit my job to go be a beauty influencer, and you know, this is gonna be hard for people to believe,

but in my core, it was nothing about the fame. And quite frankly, I am so excited that with Lift-In, did I get to be more behind the scenes and stuff, but it was the idea that I got to finally be the face of beauty brand campaigns, so that girls growing up today are finally seeing the face of beauty brand campaigns so that girls growing up today are finally seeing their face in it. Like a L'Oreal commercial, a Sansa commercial.

It's like, I never saw a brown girl on the TV. So to be able to build that, I think, was a part of my goal and path to get to a place to change representation in the beauty industry, to see faces that I no longer saw. Because even within women of color, thank God, we're finally seeing more African-American women, more Latina women, but they're, what about everybody else? There's all these people in between

that still need representation in this industry, and I felt like I fell into that too. So my goal really has a beauty influencer, and I use the quotes because I think there's everyone I know that's a beauty influencer. There's so much more to it. There's so much hustle and grind, an entrepreneurial spirit because I think there's everyone I know that's a beauty influencer. There's so much more to it. There's so much hustle and grind and entrepreneurial spirit than I think people realize when they just see that one YouTube video.

And I think for me, it was all about changing the faces that you saw in the media. And so that's what I was doing really for the past three years. But then it got to a point of when is this brand happening? And how is it going to happen? And what is it going to look like? And if I didn't do the beauty influencer thing for three years I think I would have built a much more niche brand than my goals and path and passion for building lived hinted and I'm so happy about it because just like you said to me lived hinted is a movement first first and foremost than anything, our goal is to change representation of beauty, the faces that you see in the beauty industry.

And I feel like we're doing it, man. And it feels good. And I think the biggest reason of launching this, when I first started, everyone was like, why don't you just call it deep beauty and launch a color corrector and make it all about you and like brown girls. And there's a few reasons why. For me, it was time to build something bigger than myself.

And it wasn't about just a singular voice or a singular culture identity. It was about building a home to showcase a whole range of women, a whole range of skin tones to say, I can be exactly who I am and feel great about it. That doesn't mean that wearing makeup makes you less of like a person that feels that way. It's more of, to me, the beauty products are just a vehicle for us to share our

message to make sure that inclusion and diversity is just the standard in the beauty industry. It shouldn't be like a campaign, which is how it's being treated right now. Yeah, that's so interesting. It shouldn't be a campaign. It shouldn't. Yeah, because what would that do? If it was a campaign? What are the negatives of that? It's strategic. It feels disingenuous and it's not making real movement happen. And there's a lot of brands that you can see capitalizing on that, which it doesn't bother me because at the end of the day, at least there is a token brown girl now, right? That wasn't something that happened before and we need that progress. It's better than nothing.

We need that progress. So even though you'll see the one brown girl and, right? That wasn't something that happened before and we need that progress. It's better than nothing. We need that progress. So even though you'll see the one brown girl and things and the one brown guy and things, that didn't exist before. So at least that step one to get to a place where this is just normalized. And so that's how I feel about the whole thing in general. But I think when I launched Live Tinted, it was so important. We launched in 2017 as a community first. And while we were doing that, we just used the community, not use the community, we listened to the community to help us think through

what was the first beauty product we were gonna create. And it was truly made by them for them. And it just is so crazy, Jay, that what they asked for when we asked what your biggest beauty concern is, was dark circles. So it was such a full circle moment for me to go back to my breadlisting video and it all happened.

It was like, there's clearly still a need in the market for this product. And but again, for me, the product is so secondary to what we're doing, you know, like with the campaign that we launched three weeks ago, which is so crazy. How all this is happening, but it was about no Photoshop. That's not something you see in the beauty industry.

When people look at Instagram and they look in magazines, I don't want people to feel the way I did growing up where I felt not good enough the way I was. I definitely went through the whole thing where I started myself and changed things about myself to look like that. And so my whole goal with Live Tented is to just let people be themselves and make that a place that's like celebrated, you know?

And I think the biggest thing we say about Live Tinted is that we're a multicultural community because if I were to just make this a brown girl brand, like everyone was expecting me to do, how is that really creating progress in the space, right? Like for us to really be integrated into the larger world and make this a truly inclusive brand, we have to be speaking to every ethnicity. We have to be talking to each other. And I think the biggest thing I spent the past year

before we launched this product for Lift-In was educating people on different cultures, different backgrounds, because I feel like the more you learn about other people's cultures, the more you're able to, I guess, understand each other. You know, like when I think about, for example, we talked about like facial hair, which is something a lot of women have. I hope some point out there can relate with me, and it's not just me.

But when we spoke about it, all these women from all different backgrounds felt like they were chiming in a Latino woman chiming Middle Eastern and all these things. And I was like, wow, this community is so much bigger than I even expected it to be. And it all organically happened, which is the most beautiful thing, right? Like, I think when people try to force something, you feel it, other people feel it,

and it just naturally happens. I mean, I just think that's the best way to do everything in business and in life. I love it. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. And I'm so glad that you've built something community first. Yeah. And I remember one of my mentors in business would always say like build community first,

comment second, like always. And I used to say, and I was like, that sounds good. That sounds good. Yeah, yeah. That's one of those statements. But it was like, it's so true. It is. Because not only is a commute, that's one of those statements, but it was like, it's so true because not only is a

commute, that's not just smart or strategic. Actually, what it is is it's real because when you deeply get to know people's stories, your heart expands, your vision expands, right? Like, you don't become someone who's just trying to sell something anymore because you have a community for sea. If you start with commerce, you're basically thinking, are we hitting on numbers? Are we selling stuff? Is stuff being shipped, right? That's what you're thinking about. When you start with community first,

like you have, you start hearing people's stories. You start hearing people's backgrounds. You hear about people's challenges, and then your brand becomes full of compassion and empathy and love and care as opposed to being about numbers and stats and analytics. Even when you say that, it makes my heart just feel so good love and care as opposed to being about numbers and stats and analytics.

Even when you say that it makes my heart just feel so good because I had so many tough times this past year. I was so, it was so many lows of thinking and again doubting yourself. It was a complete shift, right? And for me, I never dreamt of being a beauty influencer, but I always dreamt of this beauty brand happening. So the pressure was like 10x. And I felt like, oh my God,

this is what I wanted since I was 16, it's happening and you have to do it right. But I had to get out of my own head and go back to the same scrappy mentality I had when I first started that YouTube video using my iPhone is you just have to start. You just have to start. And I'll tell you, during those low times,

it was literally this community that got me through it. Because I would read their comments and they'd be like, keep going. Thank you so much. You're changing my life. You're making me feel beautiful with who I am. And when you see those comments, like literally, when you're working at one in the morning

and you're like sitting there on your laptop and it's a Saturday night, that is the energy you need to say, this is why you're doing something. And I think that that purpose-driven aspect of a beauty, not just a beauty, but just building a business is the equals longevity. 100%. Because there's a, we're human.

There's a real emotion that goes into it. And I think like, at least for me personally, and I don't know, this could be one of my weaknesses as a CEO, but I feel like I have empathy in building this business. And it sometimes is like not a good thing, but it's who I am. And I don't know if that'll go away, but I can't help but care. And it's tough, right? Because when you're a beauty personality, I'm allowed to just be that girl. When you're running a business,

you sometimes have to like shift that hat and be like, okay, like, let's think about this. Like what's going to be right for them and this and that it's a weird balance of all of these things. I'm, this is a therapy session all of a sudden, but I'm into it. I'm like, man, it's a lot. Yeah, no, it is a lot. And that's what I think is so beautiful

when I'm doing the podcasts and I'm speaking to someone like yourself, it's like you've just had so many transitions in there. Yeah. And transitions are the hardest. Yeah. And that's why most people never have them. And that's why most people live the same day over and over and over again and call it a life because transitions are so hard. Tell me about the doubts that came in your mind and how you overcame them before you got to building lived-tinted. Like, what were the doubts, what were the challenges

and what got you through? So we already know the community got you through. And I love that because that to me is, to me, that's a successful entrepreneur. Like to me, that's a successful business person. It's someone who's living for their community and their wives so strong. But what else? What were the doubts that came up and how were you able to strategically or internally start overcoming them? I think I had to tell myself you have to sometimes give up the good to get to the great. You know, like, I actually like remember writing that out and like writing out like, things were just going

in sort of like a hamster wheel as an influencer, right? Like, there was deals coming in and beyond the deals again. Like, I felt like there was everything I want to do achieve out of being a beauty influencer, you know, that had happened. But it's comfortable. I had a routine with it. I was in a flow of it, and I was growing on my business with it and all these things, and it's really scary to go from that to, well, I've had this dream, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so I would say for me, my biggest thing was that I knew that to build a company, I would need people. And so me taking this calculated risk also impacted other people's lives.

That's a really scary thing. And I think for me, it was like, again, the same way when I was working at that company, and while working there, I started my YouTube channel, right? So while I was an influencer, I started Live Tinted. And that was the only, that's the way that I've always built my career is like, do a little test. It's almost like, you know, like just test it out, see how it goes. And that's how we launched Live Tinted as like with the hashtag, I literally just put on my Instagram story. This is how scrappy I did it.

I thought I was going to do this whole plan plan and make this beautiful grid on Instagram, right? And then I was just like, you know what Deepka, I just put hashtag live tinted and said, if you can find a deep skin melanin South Asian woman, tag hashtag live tinted, and within minutes, 200 people had tagged women all over online because I couldn't find a woman that looked like that on the internet.

How crazy is that? Whoa, no way. Wow, that's crazy. So I just asked the community to do it. And then I was like, you know what? Let's just launch this page. So that was my way of testing it out because instead of just trying to think of like,

and I think that's the biggest thing we all get into our heads is this perfection idea. And the second I stopped thinking about that or caring about it, we just launched the page and it just started to organically grow. So instead of like placing that big order for that beauty product and right away saying, I needed to start this beauty product, I started an Instagram page and I just started a hashtag

and thousands and thousands and thousands of people have been using the hashtag as a way to identify themselves and tell their personal story about their identity and their culture and where they come from. And that, to me, helped me shape what product and what I wanted to launch from a business side. But in the beginning, it was just about trying something out.

And I think that's the only way for me personally, it's not the only way to do it. But I think it's the way that you kind of go into it with a little less fear. Yeah. Because it's scary. It's still scary. Yeah. No, I love that because I always say that all of my content is 75% complete.

It's just everything. This podcast, everything on Instagram, every video I've ever made is 75% complete. And that's crazy because I've had everyone watching is thinking it's 150% good. And it's really not, for my perspective, I know everything I could have made better about each one. But if I tried to get to 100, you'd never, you'd wouldn't know who I am. Because I think that's the block we all live in.

We try and go from 75, now it shouldn't be 50, right? You don't want to put something out at just 50 or 40, but you want to get to a place where you are removing that fear because if I waited till I got to 99 or 100, I'd never release anything. Because then you can just keep tweaking and keep tweaking and keep tweaking. And then you don't learn and then you don't learn fast.

Like waiting for something to get 100, you could wait 10 years to learn something. At 75, you can launch 10 things in 10 years and learn from it and get better. That doesn't mean you're giving low quality, like just to throw that out. It's not about low quality, right? It's not about bad quality.

It's not like, I don't think what I'm bringing out is good quality. What I'm saying is that I'm not giving myself the pressure of perfecting, like there are times when I miss a word or miss pronounce a word on a video, right? And it's like, I'm not gonna rerecord the video for that because at that time it felt right. And people can forgive that. And I think that's what I mean. They're

just living for creating something of high value and high quality. We're not putting the fear of something that's actually going to block you from ever getting it to market. And I don't think any entrepreneur launching a business is ever going to feel like the work is 100%. No, no, no, no, no, no, it. If you were waiting for 100%, yeah, it just would never happen. You can't think of it that way. You just can't. And I think about that even with when we launch our first product, again, like I, I, there's so many things I wanted to do differently. But at the same time, like you also want to put it out into the world and see how people

respond to it because you want to learn from that and grow from that and build from that. So the same way I started that with the hashtag, my YouTube channel, to the hashtag of launching lived in it as a community. I treated our first product that way too and I mean fingers crossed it's going well. Yeah, I think it's going amazing. Yeah. It's awesome. And I loved the branding and I know Rady was in the video too.

She was. Rady doesn't love being in front of camera. Which makes no sense because she could be a IRL model. That's be real. Everyone knows that. But it's amazing. I love that it was, it was very real. Yeah. Like when I saw it, because I'd never seen it from what Rade showed me when she was there

with you, but I saw it the day it all launched three weeks ago. And I was just like, oh, I love the song. Like I love the look and feel of everyone in the video. None of it felt pretentious. And I see beauty ads all the time. Let you see beauty ads all the song. I love the look and feel of everyone in the video. None of it felt pretentious. I see beauty ads all the time. Let's use the recipe. Beauty ads all the time. Yeah. And that's the point, right? And it didn't feel like that. And I'm not just saying that because you're my friend. I'm

saying that because that's how I felt. And I was just like, oh, this is real. And I'm glad that I've just found out from which I didn't know, which the release was scrappy. Yeah. Because I think it feels real and it feels authentic and genuine and... But you know what the thing is is like I feel like if we didn't do it that way, like it wouldn't be what I want the brand to be. Like think about you just set it yourself. There is a million beauty brands out there. What is the point and purpose of just putting out another one?

There has to be something bigger than a beauty product. There has to be something that you want to change. And that's in any aspect of whatever business you're building. What drives me and keeps me going is thinking like we are actually making momentum in this industry to make it. So literally it's not an option to not feature only one type of person in a campaign. It's not an option anymore.

You have to make it so you're being truly inclusive. And I think that's what excites me more than anything is that girls see themselves with quote unquote flaws, which to me are really just like the best parts about people. And I think the more that we share people's stories and give people voices, these are all women. That's why I think we've been able to grow

at the rate that we have is these are all women who have been dying to finally be heard and get their voices heard. And I think, you know, I can't tell you how many investors, how many mentors, all told me that I was crazy to want to launch it this way. I mean, so many. And I think that's one of those things that you should get advice from other people in your lives, of course, that you trust, but at the end of the day, it's your vision and your gut feeling that has to make the final call. Oh, that's so true. Has to. So true.

And it's funny how that gut and intuition kind of gets quieter and quieter as things get bigger and bigger. It's so hard. Like, it's almost like as things get bigger, you almost feel like, oh, I don't know to do this. So I've got to listen to someone else. I used to go to like five or six different people and they all had different opinions.

And then that just added voices and noises into your own head. And it actually, to be honest, even during the building process, there was certain people's advice I took that was so different from what I wanted. So different. I am so glad that before we executed and launched,

I had a mentor snap me and say, where's the Deepaka in this brand? And what she meant by the Deepaka is that where is the bubbly personality, the fun, the vibrancy, the girl that people have been following for three years who now wanted to launch something bigger than herself, it's so easy to lose yourself. And that's what happened with all the voices

and noises in my head. And I think when I had that person think God, like snap that into my brain, I just remembered, wow, I want this to be a brand that's about happiness and people to feel like just like positive and good because the beauty space can be really isolating. It just can. And I think, you know, just the media in general

can be isolating. If I can do one thing with this beauty brand and it's make one person out there, and I know you, I feel like you must feel the same way. If I can make one person out there feel, like they can be exactly who they are and feel good about that, then like, I'm doing what I wanna do.

I really feel that way. It's not, it's really not about the beauty product. And I think that's the best part about building this business. I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that. I love that.

Tell me a bit about the biggest things you think you have to think about for someone who's thinking of starting a business. What if you had to say there were three things that I know have been really important to launch this business well. What have been those three big things? Apart from the obvious things like getting funding or whatever, just three key core principles that you think have made a huge difference to a successful launch. The first thing that comes to mind is cutting out the noise.

There's a lot of things that I used to do that I don't do anymore. And that includes people in my life that I now recognize. This is why I basically live at this home is because I'm telling you if there is even an inkling in you that somebody is negative energy, they're negative energy. And you need to cut that person out of your life yesterday. And I've always been the girl that had a million best friends. And like, I love being around people. Like I said, I'm extra burned.

And I thrive on other people's energy. But the wrong energy can take you way down the wrong place. So I would say the first thing is cut out the noise and whatever that means in your own way, like the people, the distractions, the habits. I don't go out like I used to go out. I hang out with my family more than I ever have. And my close friends, I've really dwindled it down

to a core group of people. And you just, you have to. There's not enough time is so finite that I would say the first thing is cut out the noise. The other thing I would say is, you know, I think the whole being scrappy thing is something to emphasize. Like I would say like, the whole making a business plan thing, I personally don't believe in that because to me, my experience the past 10 years, I think is a business plan. Like I don't think you have to put pen to paper in that sense of like,

I was always talked about, like I was a business, like an undergrad, I was a business major and it was like, create this like formalized business plan, but blah, blah, blah, blah. I think that that's just like, there's a difference between brainstorming and doing like a whole like whiteboard situation versus like anything of that like fanciness.

Be scrappy. Just like just put things out there, see feelers do tests and see what happens with that, you know? So I would say yeah, cut the noise and be scrappy. And maybe I would say like support system, support system, support system, which kind of goes into like cutting the noise, but I can't emphasize that enough because, and that for me, it was my community, but whatever support system is to you, it is so crucial because whatever you see online, don't believe

it. It is the toughest journey you'll ever go on, but it's the most rewarding journey you'll ever go on and it is so worth it. But I wouldn't have gotten through it if it wasn't from my support system. I still, every day. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to touch on that because then we talk a lot about like the psychological impact of like starting a business, growing a brand, whatever it is, it's hard work. And a lot of people burn out, right? A lot of people get totally stressed, totally burn out, and they lose themselves in the process. And you're so right, I think you've hit the nail

on the head already, that just being around the right people, being around the right energy, changing your practices and habits, to suit that bigger goal, right? It's not a sacrifice, because it's supporting that bigger goal. Yeah, it takes a long time to realize that. I will tell you, I mean, I talked to your wife and you about it all the time, is that like, there really is this difference that just the way you start your day can change the

whole trajectory of your day. And I hear your videos and I like know it, but for somebody who doesn't practice it, it's so easy to pick up my phone and just start working. And I think for me, it really is a thing of baby steps because the second you try to say, I'm gonna stop drinking and going out and just working out and eating healthy and try to do all of these 50 stop drinking and going out and just like working out and eating healthy and try to do all of these 50 things at once.

You end up doing none of them. Totally. Like it's just not happening. And I think I was always that extremist. I'm always like zero or a hundred. Yeah, Roddy was telling me that yesterday. I really am that person. I'm like, if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go all in on it.

Finding a balance in life is something, by the way, still working on every single day. But it's so important because, yeah, that the mentally, your mental capacity is gonna be questioned every single day when you start your own business. And everything you can do to set yourself up for success is the key.

But I will tell you, it's sad that the only reason I started caring about self-care and self-love was because I felt like I had to do it for the company rather than for myself. If I'm being totally honest, that's truly it. And the only reason I was like, I need to start working out again wasn't because I cared about my physical appearance.

When I was an influencer, I probably would have cared a lot more because I was like, oh, I have to take this photo. Running a business, it just wasn't something that was on my mind and something I cared about. But I started to realize I couldn't breathe well. I took like huge gasps from air and I had vocal issues and all of these things happening. And I was like, wow, Deepa, like if you want this business is only going to be as strong as you are hoping run it.

And that's what kick started me to start caring, which is quite frankly sad, you know, like self-care should not be something that you look at and think about as an afterthought or something you're doing to support another aspect of your life. Well, that's the reality of is how I felt. I think that's how all of us are. I think we all start taking care of ourselves when we're hit with an external challenge or pain. We're so bad at that.

Like we're so bad at taking care of something while it's here, while it's there. You know, we're waiting for something to go wrong or some big alarm bell to sound. And I think that's you, I think that's all of us, me included. And I think all we can take that as is now that you've recognized that you're now moving it back to, actually, I'm not going to do this just for lift-in, so I'm going to do this for me.

And that helps lift-in, because lift-in, to the subpart of me. I think self-awareness is the biggest thing that I've now. I feel like because I recognize that, like you just said, I'm like, you know what, that's step one. And I took that step one, so don't be so hard on yourself, you've got to like, it's hard to not, though. It's this feeling of, you feel selfish doing self-care, but quite frankly, that's just not how it works. It's a part of sustaining yourself. And it can't be looked at that way. And even for social media, I felt like I could never show myself getting a massage or going to, it's two ways.

It's like at the other side of it, it's like I also just wanna turn off. Yes. And I need to give myself that moment to turn off. And now I've learned a tip I give myself, and I think this is important for everybody, even if you're not doing a career in the social media sphere, I still think giving a day off

is just so important. 100% I give myself a Saturday. So on Saturdays, I never feel like I have to do anything online. Amazing. It's just like the world is not going to end. No, no, no, no, it's definitely not. It's definitely not.

And I think we forget, like I remember it was, so this was before I really had my exponential growth on social issues, December 2017. So you were out like one million instead of 10 billion? Yes. Got it. But I was there and it was December 2017, and I remember I took the whole month off to be creative in the sense of I didn't put anything out.

So I didn't release anything in December 2017. That's amazing. Because I was just like, I don't think I'm going to be able to put out my best work. I don't think I'm going to be able to be truly impactful and help anyone if I'm not giving myself time and space. And I think that applies to products. I think that applies to videos. I think that applies to anything.

Like you grow in time and space. And we see taking time and taking space as a defect. Totally. Right, we see slowing down as a defect. Yes. When actually it's how we're built, right? We need space to create space for creativity. Creativity can only work in space.

It doesn't work in noise. Right, you never have your best idea when there's a million things on your to-do list. Like that's the truth. You just don't. And so I feel like we need to start also recognizing, and again, this is just step one, that space facilitates creativity,

space facilitates you to perform better. No one can go from event to event to event, from meeting to meeting to meeting, from pitch meeting to pitch meeting to pitch meeting, and perform at the same level without taking a break, level without taking a break or without taking a break to refine their skills, to take a pause. And I think we have to start recognizing that if we want to move forward, we have to press

pause, right? We just have to press pause. I remember there was a moment where when I was doing YouTube videos, I just, I felt like I was supposed to post every single week one video to for the algorithm and like, oh, it'll help me grow quicker, but my creative and all of that stuff that you just talked about wasn't there. And you could feel it in the video. I would still put them out because I felt like I had to and people felt it. And you know, I saw it in the comments and I saw it. They were like, okay, this doesn't even feel like you anymore. And quite frankly, I hit a cap where I didn't

want to make makeup tutorials. Because in the beginning for me making makeup tutorials was again me helping a girl out there see themselves reflected online. But by the end of it, my heart and soul was so into building this business and giving an opportunity to other girls to be the faces of on YouTube and whatever social media, you could feel it in my work. You could tell when I put out a makeup video that I didn't care to. And it's because it's not where my heart and soul is at.

It was never to be the face. It was to create that platform to give other people that opportunity to be the face. That's really where it was. But it's crazy how you like, you can't fake that. Like if you put it out into the world, people, it is awesome because that's again, the community that it was great that they called me out because it made me check myself and it pushed me to go towards building the business I wanted. Absolutely. What's been the hardest thing about becoming a CEO?

Because I feel like, yeah, it's a big, steep learning curve which you're doing at an accelerated pace. Tell us about taking on that role and what have been the hardest parts about it and how you've navigated that. You see all these like quotes about being a CEO on like Instagram and it sounds so cool and glamorous. It is everyone listens to you. Oh, everything goes to plan and you're the boss. When you have a tough day, you feel like who do you go to to talk about that tough day?

Because when you're as the CEO, running the company, you're supposed to be the one that has it all together, right? But at the end of the day, we're all human. And I think for me, and I think this is why it's so great that the startup culture has cultivated this,

you don't have to be, you don't have to have it all together. And I think that vulnerability of being able to show that to the people and your, you know, whether it's your family, friends, or your employees of like, I need a day, or you guys like, I'm not okay today and I just need that moment. I don't think it's, and I'm grateful that I've at least

experienced that with the people that work for me now, where I can show that a little bit of weakness because I think like nobody's a robot, and if they are, then I know I wouldn't wanna work for a robot, you know, and I think that human aspect has made it easier, but I still feel this insane amount of pressure to deliver better and better and better and better. And like, no matter how much people tell you to stop

and like soak in that moment, like, Deepika, you guys launched and everyone's so happy and excited about it. I still think about we have so many more lives to impact. We have so much of me, more goals to hit. And I'm always thinking about bigger, bigger, bigger. And again, it's not from a business perspective, but from a, um, just like the, the, that's exactly it, the impact that we want to make. So it never feels like enough. And I consciously am trying to make those moments to sit back. And usually it means going home to my family

who really just, they're so proud of me, but they also know when I'm home, I don't want to talk about my job. I just need a day to myself. And I think that's so important because I don't feel like I can shut off except for that one day. And yeah, so I think like being a CEO is, I just, I think it's so important people recognize that that responsibility is heavy and it's massive.

And the fact that, and I said this earlier, but it's so true, the fact that any decision I make not only impacts my life, but it impacts other people's lives. It's so much heavier to hold on your heart. Because even though, if I make a mistake and I have to deal with the consequences, that's one thing. But if I make a business decision and we hire somebody, but then recognize that the business doesn't need it anymore

and I have to fire that person, that's their livelihood at stake. So I think it's really important that if you decide to start a business, you really recognize those things that I was saying earlier about having that emotional support, you really cut out the noise. And you really just make time to think about

what it is that you want to be as a leader because I really did have that moment. And I was like, and that's why I was saying earlier, I was like, I feel like I'm allowed to just be myself and be show my weakness. And hopefully the people that work for me see that as something where I'm kind of just like letting them recognize that like this business is more than just a business. There's something behind it that matters to me more.

And that's why I get emotional. That's why I care. And that's just the way I. That's why I care. And, and, and that's just the way I want to live, to be run. I'm not saying, you know, that's for every business, but for me, if it didn't have something bigger to it, I wouldn't want to be a part of it personally. I love that. I love that. It's awesome having you on the podcast because it's so much about purpose. And I really feel when I'm listening to you that it's a purposeful brand, it's a purposeful movement, you're a purposeful person like you're living on purpose. And it's

and I think that that's the difference between what wins and what doesn't. And what's also fulfilling and what's not. Because I think that a lot of things can win in life and succeed, but they may not fill you up with meaning and happiness because it's not linked to purpose. I think you and I have both met people where we've met that they have, what externally looks like everything. Everything that you think somebody wants

and they still feel empty inside. And for me, when it's all said and done, I wanna, I think about what footprint I want to leave on the world and what I want to do. And this is, I've had so many people say to me, like, it's a beauty brand. You're at the beauty industry. I literally, when investors are like, but it's makeup.

And that's when I walk out of the room and reckon, know that they're not the right partner for me, because it's not makeup. It's about making people feel good about themselves and who they are and giving them that confidence to walk out the door and feel like they are complete. I love that. And I don't think that for me, again, this is just having that like footprint and leaving that footprint, I think everybody wants to figure out what their version of that is.

And that's when you feel fulfilled inside. And it's, don't get me wrong. Listen, like I'm not gonna sit here and preach this whole thing of like, I am working hard and I do work hard and I feel proud and I have goals. Like I want to one day buy my dad, like he got me, I think back to this and like when I was 16 years old, my father drove a Toyota Camry. He was working overnight shift after overnight shift and you know, in a family of doctors,

he was the only one that's not a doctor. He's a lab tech. And now that I understand money and the financial responsibility that he had on just that salary supporting our entire family, it blows my mind because I was a brat. I wanted that Abercrombie and Fitch Shirt. I wanted that bubble-bott.

And I now realize how much we couldn't afford it. But he never let me realize that as a kid, he gave me everything I ever wanted, everything I ever wanted. And I used to have this guilt, this heavy guilt about it, why was I that girl? I was such a brat.

And now instead of feeling that guilt, I just think about how I can pay it forward to them, but to other people, and hopefully, one day my kids, I mean, I just wanted those things. And I think that's why I'm so proud of the culture and the background I came from and wanting that to be a part of the lived-tinted brand because I, again, like I used to not be proud of it. And it's so silly because that is the dope is part of who people are. It's absolutely. That identity. Yeah, but there is something about

that South Asian community that doesn't have it. I know. And so I'm really glad that people like yourself are Representing that so incredibly well and with grace and I think that's very important I think representation is never a matter of ego or competition. It's a matter of grace Yeah, and like accepting and valuing others and Recognizing everyone's value everyone's beauty everyone's and that's what you've done with the brand which is just unbelievable to see. So thank you for doing it. Is there anything that I didn't ask you about that you wish I did? No. I always asked that because I always want to make sure that you got to embody the message you wanted to share. No, I mean honestly like I feel like it's just having a vulnerable conversation. I feel like we did. Good.

So we do end every just having a vulnerable conversation. I feel like we did. Good. So we do end every podcast with a final five. So this is me. Oh my God. Okay. The rapid fire quick fire. I think the same five. No.

Okay. That would make it really easy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I know, they're not the same five. Okay. So this is yours. Oh my God. Okay.

Your final five starts now. I do want one word or one sentence answers. Okay. Right. One word or one sentence. Okay. Okay. So first question. What is your one beauty product you can't live without? He's taken out of the tent. Okay.

Good. That's very. Yeah. Number two, what's your biggest piece of advice for someone wanting to I'm not going to change that one because I asked you that earlier. What are the three biggest pillars of what lived in your stands for? Inclusivity, acceptance and happiness.

Okay. Question three, what's one step in your morning routine that you will never skip? Now, it's breathing. Nice. And I think a large part, because of you in my life, I actually take a minute to breathe. Trust me, I have to work on that myself. That's like, I think that's something you have to do forever. It's like drinking water, right? It's tough. You can't. Absolutely. Okay. Number four, when you're having a bad day, what do you do to make yourself feel better?

What do I do? Working on that now, actively. hang out or be around somebody I love? Okay. That was not a word. That's one sentence. That's one sentence. That's one sentence. That's one sentence. And number five, what would you want to be remembered by?

I want to make an impact and I want in whatever way that means and I want if I if the legacy of live tinted is that we've somehow evolved the beauty industry to be more inclusive, I feel like we've done our purpose. I love that. Thank you so much Deepika. Thanks for having me. It's so awesome having you on the podcast. We got to hang out.

Yeah, this is great. We actually got to hang out. But if you don't already follow Deepika, please go and find her on YouTube and Instagram. Of course, go and follow Liv Tinted as well on Instagram. Anywhere else? Yeah, you know, go to our site. Go to the site, liftinted.com. Yes, no, say it. Yeah, liftinted.com. Yeah, liftinted.com. I'm sure there's so many of you out there that listening or watching right now, we're thinking, I need this makeup in my life. And and more than that again, like did I didn't say this as one of the three words that I should of its community, community, community.

And it's like, you really can learn and see other people in this community and see what products they love. It's not just about our products. We have a whole platform for other people to see other people's products because I think that education is important and fun. Yeah, well, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do this with Do Not Deep Because,

because I want to have the same conversation with you every year as you go and build this brand. Yeah, that would be interesting. I love seeing my friends like yourself, just start incredible ventures with so much purpose. And I feel so grateful that the community of friends we have here is so purposeful. Amazing.

And so deep. And I just want to support each other. And I think it's so important. Like, I want to look back on this conversation 10 years, 20 years from now. Oh, she's going to be crazy, right? Yeah. And for all of us to just be like, oh my God, you remember when we were just trying to do that and starting, you were starting this company and I was doing this.

And I just, I want to have that. And that's what I'm saying that start supporting your friends right now. Yeah. Like wherever you are in the whole same space, Start supporting your friends because there is room for everyone collaborating as way stronger than competing. Totally. Totally. And and thank you so much for being an amazing guest. Thanks. I genuinely hope anyone who's listened or watched this is going to go back, make a ton of notes. And I hope that you're going to go and find out how you can actually apply some of these principles. I think Deepak has set out so many great

gems, like so many great moments of great advice that I think that are going to help you. So if you're in the process of building your startup, if you're in the process of building your side hustle, like if that's where you're at, listen to this podcast again and take in what do I do right now? Where do I go from here? Don't worry about the big dream. This is a 10-year dream in the making, right? It's not about starting the brand tomorrow. And they're still 10 years and 20 years to go. Totally. Totally. And it's not about starting the brand tomorrow. It's not about building the product you wanted forever tomorrow. It's about doing each part, each step of

the way. That's what this story is all about. It's each step of the way. Every step has its use, has its purpose. And that's going to help you build an amazing, amazing life career and most important impact. Thank you Deepika. Thank you so much. Thanks. Love having you on the show. Make sure you guys share anything that Deepika said. Please share on Instagram, please share on Twitter, please share on Facebook. I love seeing them. I love reposting them as well, and I can't wait to see you again next week. Thanks so much for tuning in. next week. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for listening through to the end of that episode. I hope you're going to share this all across social media. Let people know that you're subscribed to on purpose. Let me know. Post it. Tell me what a difference it's making in your life.

I would love to see your thoughts. I can't wait for this incredibly conscious community we're creating of purposeful people. You're now a part of the tribe, a part of the squad. Thank you for being here. I can't wait to share the next episode with you. I am Dr. Romani and I am back with season 2 of my podcast, Navigating Narcissism. This season we dive deeper into highlighting red flags and spotting a narcissist before they spot you. Each week you'll hear stories from survivors who have navigated through toxic relationships, gaslighting, love bombing, and their process of healing. Listen to navigating narcissism on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Conquer your New Year's resolution to be more productive with the Before Breakfast podcast in each bite-sized daily episode. Time management and productivity expert Laura Vandercam teaches you how to make the most of your time, both at work and at home. These are the practical suggestions you need to get more done with your day. Just as lifting weights keeps our bodies strong as we age, learning new skills is the mental equivalent of pumping iron.

Listen to Before Breakfast on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. The world of chocolate has been turned upside down. A very unusual situation. You saw the stacks of cash in our office. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree and recently, varieties of cacao, thought to have been lost centuries ago, were rediscovered in the Amazon. There is no chocolate on earth like this. And recently, Variety's Pekow fought to have been lost centuries ago, where we discovered in the Amazon. Now some chocolate makers are racing deep into the jungle to find the next game-changing

chocolate, and I'm coming along. Listen to the obsessions, wild chocolate, on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It's wild chocolate on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.